Barnes and Noble

I was in the Bellevue Barnes and Noble today.  A couple of things worth noting.

First you enter and there is a booth-type display for the Nook staffed by a full time person.  It was really desperate (or so it seemed).  No takers except us.  The main features seem to be that you can play music and log into facebook.  I thought this was pretty crazy -- why compete as a cheaper iPad.  That doesn't seem like a winner.

The other thing that was a surprise was how much *less* floorspace is devoted to books.  There are all kinds of gifts and "junk" in the store.  Even and especially in the children's section it's 50% non-book.  There are even fewer magazines.  Very depressing IMHO because I do love a really good book store.  I will admit that Amazon is pretty nice.

Dab